The Background

BTEC has its roots in the 1930s and the establishment of ordinary and higher national diplomas and certificates for vocational workplace training. BTEC was originally formed through the merger of the Business Education Council and the Technician Education Council and then merged with ULEAC (University of London Examinations and Assessment Council) to form Edexcel in 1996. Edexcel was then taken over by Pearson Education in 2003.

Edexcel is one of the five main examinations bodies in the UK and responsible for about 1.5 million qualifications annually ranging from GCSEs and A Levels to vocational qualifications across a huge range of careers and professions of which Business and Computing are just two. Quite a substantial part of Edexcel's work is with NVQs (portfolio assessed qualifications) at lower management levels.

Edexcel has a partnership with CMI so that at the end of level 5 programmes and higher, delegates can use their qualifications to enable them to become members of CMI if they choose.

Edexcel - Approach to Assessment

Edexcel is the most flexible of the three awarding bodies in its approach to assessment - although as with the other two, it still sets specific learning outcomes which have to be met. The Edexcel approach allows for more customisation of assignments to meet specific learning needs overall, and Edexcel is also more flexible (within specific guidelines) when it comes to group work.

Edexcel - Our personal view

Of the three awarding bodies, Edexcel is the most flexible and the lowest cost when it comes to registration. The syllabus and structure is simple and clear. However customers often tell us that they feel there is a "brand" issue with BTEC and Edexcel. Edexcel used to be responsible for SATS marking until they lost the contract (fortuitously as it turns out) to the Canadian firm ETS. Until recently Edexcel was often in the news for marking mistakes with GCSE and A levels - but this has been largely sorted now. BTEC is a distinct part of Edexcel so in reality not affected by what happens with school exams, but again customers sometimes say that this makes them think of building trades.